I have never been more pleased with a Badger loss. I was concerned about how they would perform and they didn't get blown out and they have a lot of areas where they can improve simply by eliminating their own errors.

Plus it pretty well answered the question about whether the Berggren showed he was more than capable of competing with anyone in the paint, and he has clearly improved over the first couple games this season. The same thing goes for Kaminsky.

The guards were all pretty well their usual self minus hitting shots.

Evans either looks fantastic with the ball or like a total dumb ass. His dribble is to high up when he tries backing in and it resulted in the ball getting poked away every time (he tried 5 times) he attempted to do so.

Early on the game there were two break downs by the defense that gave NC free layups.

There were a couple times (in particular in the second half at the 10-12 minute mark when NC broke away slightly) where the Badgers rushed things and took awful shots with 15+ seconds left on the shot clock, that had next to no hope of going in, rather than waiting and possibly getting a quality look (also kudos to NC's defense they looked good during this period of time). This rushing also sped up the game to NC's pace during that time. Eventually the Badgers slowed it down and started coming back.

I do hope the Badgers get to meet NC in the NCAA tourny would be nice to see how they both improved over the year.

Also I am more excited for next season I think they will be a better team even with losing Taylor. Gausser/Brust/Berggren with another year of experience is a lot scarier than Taylor/Gausser/Berggren right now in my mind, and the cool thing is Gausser/Brust/Kaminsky 3 years from now potentially is even better simply due to experience again.

So as a Badger fan I have never been more satisfied with a loss simply because the potential is there for them to make a deep run in the NCAA tourny.

What sucks about college hoops now is that young fans are cheated by a system that is primarily one-and-done for NBA-level talent. Long gone are the days of some really unbelievable teams from the 80s (i.e. NC, Georgetown) that had future NBA superstars playing through their junior/senior years. I don't blame players for leaving early to enter the pros (get paid, man!) but it does leave today's college basketball a bit lesser of a product.

The only fans who cheer for conferences are (1) fans of crappy teams in "good" conferences (e.g., everyone in the SEC apart from LSU, Bama and Arkansas this season), or (2) retarded people who get wrapped up in the manufactured "conference" hype generated by ESPN -- or, as I like to call them, the "Go Yankees/Red Sox/SEC Variety Hour"

I agree, and blame college football for that. With 12 game season, there's not enough games to look at trends, and without a playoff, SOS is becoming such a huge argument about which teams are better. However, I do understand wanting teams from your conference to be doing well when you play them so your team is beating the best teams you can.

First, this is basketball. Everyone plays enough out of conference games that you don't need to rely on conference hype to validate your team. UNC and Duke are good, the rest of the ACC sucks - we won't get fooled into thinking Wake Forest is good.Second, this is actually a challenge - it is conference v. conference. Is it a gimmick? Of course. Is it fun? Yes. Does it last much longer then 3 days? Not unless the ACC wins, in which case ESPN will remind us all year.Third, most people know the the true value of this gimmick. It assures everyone involved a decent out of conference opponent.

Why? I want my team to be the best, and to be the best you have to beat the best. But since they can't play everyone, I want the teams they DO play(i.e. conference foes) to have proven themselves better than all of their other competition. It isn't a perfect comparison, but it's the best we've got.

Why? I want my team to be the best, and to be the best you have to beat the best. But since they can't play everyone, I want the teams they DO play(i.e. conference foes) to have proven themselves better than all of their other competition. It isn't a perfect comparison, but it's the best we've got.

actually i think the best we've got is a massive single-elimination tournament that takes place at some point in the late first quarter to early second quarter. it's supposed to be a pretty frenetic event.

thomps:actually i think the best we've got is a massive single-elimination tournament that takes place at some point in the late first quarter to early second quarter. it's supposed to be a pretty frenetic event.

Well yea. But they have to choose the teams that make it into April Absurdity, which means teams have to be ranked in some fashion, which is going to be based on how they played and who they beat.

VTGremlin:thomps: actually i think the best we've got is a massive single-elimination tournament that takes place at some point in the late first quarter to early second quarter. it's supposed to be a pretty frenetic event.

Well yea. But they have to choose the teams that make it into April Absurdity, which means teams have to be ranked in some fashion, which is going to be based on how they played and who they beat.

has a bubble team ever won Spring Silliness though? i googled that question but couldn't find anything, which was weird. i feel like if you are the best of the best, you're either guaranteed an at large or you took care of business and won your conference's automatic bid.

thomps:VTGremlin: thomps: actually i think the best we've got is a massive single-elimination tournament that takes place at some point in the late first quarter to early second quarter. it's supposed to be a pretty frenetic event.

Well yea. But they have to choose the teams that make it into April Absurdity, which means teams have to be ranked in some fashion, which is going to be based on how they played and who they beat.

has a bubble team ever won Spring Silliness though? i googled that question but couldn't find anything, which was weird. i feel like if you are the best of the best, you're either guaranteed an at large or you took care of business and won your conference's automatic bid.

You root for your team by rooting for your conference. BCS Championship participants and NCAA tournament seedings are largely based on how the conference is perceived. Remember last year Alabama and their 12-4 conference record not making the tourney? It was largely because everyone thought the SEC particularly the West sucked and they used the nonconference results of their team to reach that conclusion.